Breed

Chapter Twenty-nine

"I'd feel better if Pete was here," Demi said as they walked down the darkened street ringing the southern edge of the campus.

"Because being an overachiever in genetics is a useful skill when tracking a potentially homicidal Japanese schoolgirl?" Iago asked.

"No. Because she fucked up that cop, and where Pete goes Cris is pretty likely to follow. And I'd feel better having a walking emergency room with us."

"I wish I wasn't here," Tucker said.

"Thanks for coming," Mikaela said.

"You said this girl needed our help- and you needed me to find her."

"We do," Mikaela said. "And that's why I'm glad you came."

Tucker closed his eyes. "This would be easier if I knew Mayumi," he said.

"The important thing to know right now is she's dangerous, so be careful. When she ripped into that cop, she was wailing like a banshee, like an animal. But there was something to the violence, something... practiced about it. Like, I dated a dancer, years ago. And everything in the way she moved was more deliberate, just walking around had a fluidity to it. Mayumi's had a lot of practice hurting people- though I don't understand how."

"I'm sure I'll be fine," Tucker said.

Demi noticed the tension between them, and tried to intervene, stepping so that she blocked Tucker's view of Mikaela. "So what's telepathy like?" she asked.

"Have you ever struggled to hear yourself think while someone obliviously drones on? Strikingly like that."

Demi stopped walking, and glared daggers into Tucker. "You've got to forgive Tucker," Iago said, slowing down to stay with her. "He was born without a sense of humor. Or the ability to not be a dick for more than five minutes at a time."

Tucker spun around. "Has it been five minutes?" he asked Iago.

"Don't think so."

"Tell me when it has," he said, before spinning back around.

"Okay, so he has been known to deadpan. But other than that, no sense of humor."

"You'll have to forgive my brother," Tucker said, stopping to let them catch up.

"For?" Demi asked.

"His personality, mostly." Demi stifled a laugh. "But I'm sorry. I wasn't exactly keen on coming out for a protest. And you can imagine I was even less thrilled to get a call from my ex trying to help her find a girl. But cunty though my answer was, that is what telepathy's like. Think about your own internal monologue. Disjointed, abstract half-sentences. The one thing that really makes one person's thoughts recognizable is their voice- we all have a rough approximation of our voice that we hear in our own heads. Telepathy is like hearing someone else's thoughts in your own head- on top of your own. It's disjointed and disorienting."

"And it's probably worse with someone chatting you up while you're doing it."

"But it was still crappy of me to take it out on you, so, sorry."

"It's okay. You might see this as mostly a favor you're doing for an ex. But Mayumi's my friend, too. And she needs us."

"What happened to being afraid of her?"

"I'd probably say I was more intimidated than afraid. But honestly, I think I'm the heaviest hitter here. If I can't take her... well, that's not very likely."